December 8, 2006 – Could Flickr users be the next citizen journalists? Scoopt thinks so. Scoopt, an image distributor, has recently posted an open letter to Flickr online photo sharers to be their representative photo agency to use their images for joint profit.
“Next time a plane falls out of the sky…or a celebrity falls out of a nightclub…Snap…Send…Sell…with Scoopt,” states the company website.
Scoopt’s interest in the online photo sharing community comes days after Yahoo!, owner of Flickr, launched an online citizen journalism site, You Witness News, in conjunction with news agency Reuters this week.
Scoopt, the first agency to sell photos on behalf of citizen journalists, according to the site, has the potential to turn even camera phone users in money-making photographers. The agency encourages Flickr users to use Scopt with a little flattery and a little promise of money. “We love Flickr because Flickr members are some of the best snappers on the planet,” stated the Scoopt letter.
A registered Flickr user can join Scoopt, tag their news worthy images with the keyword “scoopt,” and email Scoopt notifying them of the postings. For images that end up being distributed to media outlets, the Flickr user and Scoopt split profits 50/50, according to the company website. The Flickr user retains primary copyrights, and Scoopt has a sub-license to the image, according to the site.
In addition, Flickr users can make a little profit for recommending friends to Scoopt. The Flickr user will get a 10 percent cut of friends’ images that are sold.
Call them citizen journalists or paparazzi or photographers, Flickr users could be part the market for user-contributed news content.
